Mayoral ‘trowel’ found in drawer
Morning tea in the mayor’s office may be a little classier now with the return of a small but practical piece of Ha¯ wera’s history.
A silver trowel used by one of Mayor Ross Dunlop’s predecessors to lay the first brick for the town’s water tower in 1912, has been returned to the South Taranaki District Council for safekeeping.
The trowel is made of ornately engraved sterling silver with a bone handle.
An inscription on it reads: ‘‘Presented by the citizens to A.W. Gillies Esq, Mayor, on the occasion of laying foundation stone of water tower.’’
The genteel tool looks much too delicate for shovelling cement, but it was perfect for serving pavlova, and that’s what it was used for after the water tower ceremony.
The trowel was kept in a drawer, and only brought out for special occasions, John Gillies, who is a great-nephew of Arthur Gillies, said.
‘‘AW Gillies was my grandfather’s brother. He had no children and I suspect my father, a nephew of AW, was chosen by him to get his relics, and they came to our family.’’
The trowel is still in a special satin-lined box, labelled with ‘H. Morris, Jeweller, Ha¯ wera’.
‘‘My mother used it exclusively for serving the pav. She was a good pavlova maker, she used to serve us slices of delicious fluffy pavlova on to our plates.
‘‘My wife is also a good pav maker but we don’t have pavlova very often any more,’’ John Gillies, of Tauranga, said.
‘‘When our mother died about 18 months ago, we felt it would be a nice thing to give it back to the town, it’s part of their history.’’
The perfect occasion arose with the opening of the new VC Memorial Garden.
It turns out the Gillies are almost blue bloods in South Taranaki terms, as they’re related to another former mayor as well
Their other ancestor, Edwin Dixon, was mayor when World War I ended.
‘‘He was my maternal greatgrandfather. I remember one or two times meeting this elderly man with a white beard, sitting in a chair,’’ John Gillies said.
Dunlop said he had never been presented with a memento as fancy as the Gillies trowel.
‘‘The closest I’ve got is being presented with a stainless steel spade which I used to turn the first sod for the Hub, but it doesn’t stand up to the standard of this trowel.’’
He said the silver trowel would eventually be put on show at the council building.
‘‘I’ve had a suggestion we should have a council pavlova competition,’’ he smiled.
‘‘When our mother died about 18 months ago, we felt it would be a nice thing to give it back to the town.’’ John Gillies, great-nephew of Arthur Gillies